Blithe Spirits
by Spoiled Sweet
Summary: "Glorified Nanny" was not the job Sakura had been looking for to make rent, but at the very least smut writer Hatake Kakashi was an interesting fellow. -Obviously AU, Modern Setting, Fluffy possibly citrus-y nonsense-
1. Meetings

**Blithe Spirits**

**Part One**

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Note:** I have no good explanation for this. Nor do I have an apology, really. Enjoy. Feel free to roll your eyes along the way. See you at the bottom of the page.**  
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* * *

There had never been a time when Kakashi could say that he was on _friendly_ terms with mornings, but he and the morning sun rarely spoke to one another anymore. College could be blamed. Late nights doing homework, instant noodles, and caffeine made him a stranger to the hours between eight and twelve. The relationship wasn't improved any with his lifestyle ten years down the road: late nights finishing manuscripts and sketches, take-out, and more caffeine combined with the occasional bender when he was just tired of being conscious but not tired enough to sleep.

So it was easier to understand why, when he found himself roused from bed at the ungodly hour of _nine_ by gentle thumping at his flat's door and then partially blinded by the light flooding in from between the slats of his wooden blinds, he felt that the sun was just being a bit vindictive.

"Coming," he groaned even as he rolled over to hide his face in his pillow… only to roll directly out of bed and onto an old takeout carton on the floor.

His tiny, one-room apartment looked a bit… well, _he_ called it homey. Everyone else would call it a biohazard. Trash, dirty laundry, empty take-out containers, discarded papers—some covered in script and other in the neat font of his typewriter—littered the floor from the kitchenette to the front door. Shelves lined almost every wall with volumes of books filling every inch. Posters of scantily clad women with gob-smacking bust-to-hip ratios covered the bits of exposed wall and ceiling.

The gentle knocking continue as Kakashi found himself staring up at one such woman from the floor, admiring her breasts in between blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

With some effort he managed to heave himself onto his feet, stumbling briefly over the dragging hems of his sweats. He reached the door and laid his forehead against it with a loud 'thump'. After convincing his eyes to open again, he pressed one to the peephole.

No one.

Frowning he reached for the handle and opened the door, slouching against the frame.

At first, all he saw was hair. Pink. In the vicinity of his knees as the girl was knelt down and adjusting the laces of her brown and pink sneakers.

After a moment, she lifted her head and paused when she found herself face-to-knee with his legs. Immediately, the girl hopped to her feet, smiling sheepishly as she canted her head to one side, her high ponytail swaying as she did so.

Well, this made the whole nine a.m. thing a little more forgivable. Especially the skirt. Frilly and short, yellow and covered in little red flowers. It was obscenely _cute_ and girlish paired with the ponytail, tank top, and extra short, denim vest. "_Gay_," a friend had called such observations once upon a time. He disagreed. He was a _connoisseur_ of women's clothing. And of women for that matter.

"Can I help you?"

The girl sighed and adjusted the bag on her hip. "My name is Haruno Sakura," she began in a rather business-like tone tempered by a smile and an offered hand painted with green polish. "I've been hired by the Yum-Yum Publishing Company to be Hatake Kakashi's personal assistant slash concierge slash housekeeper. Oh, and at some point I'm supposed to mention Jiraiya, _so_…"

Oh, that just figured. "Sorry, you've got the wrong add—"

He didn't even get the door half-way shut before she had one sneaker-shod foot in the way. _Nice legs,_ he thought blithely. He lifted his eyes to hers and she bared all her teeth at him this time in what had to be the sweetest and most vaguely threatening smile _ever_. "Jiraiya said you'd react like that," she replied. "It's nice to meet you Hatake-san."

* * *

It was possible that this was the dumbest thing Sakura had ever done. Sure, Ino could probably come up with a few more examples to compare it to (after all, her memory of Sakura's worst moments was conspicuously sharper than Sakura's) but going to Jiraiya for a job had to be in the top five. At _least_.

After all, what kind of an idiot was she? Sure, he was a family friend, but that hardly stopped him from trying to get a peek down her blouse whenever he had the opportunity and, yeah, _she_ had gone to _him,_ but she still felt that he was taking advantage. He knew she was clamoring for the money and that she was just looking for a desk job.

"Personal assistant, huh?"

Sakura glanced around the apartment. "Yeah," she said slowly. "For some reason he thought you needed someone to take care of you."

She kicked a pair of boxers aside for emphasis and then looked to the man. Hatake Kakashi. The name wasn't familiar, but apparently his work was, in the world of ecchi and porn, exceptional. Jiraiya himself had seemed abnormally proud of him, as if the slump-shouldered, droopy-eyed creature before her has burst forth into life from _his_ loins.

She wanted to smack herself for visualizing that and then smack Jiraiya for everything else wrong at the moment. She had gone to that man looking to push papers and ended up a glorified _nanny_.

"That's very nice of him," Kakashi began as he rubbed at the back of his neck, which made her smiled. It was obviously some kind of nervous tic and was, for some reason… endearing. Mixed with the horrible posture and sleepy eyes, it was downright adorable in a pathetic sort of way. She almost wanted to give him a cuddle. "But I don't need a babysitter."

Oh, so he saw that too. Well, at least they were on the same page.

Skeptically, she glanced around the apartment and then looked back to him, her eyebrows lifted. "Really now?"

"_Okay_, I don't _want_ a babysitter."

Sakura sighed. Okay, so this job was easily the modern equivalent of indentured servitude, but she wouldn't let this guy get in her way. Jiraiya had given her an advance in payment and she had actually _kissed_ him the minute she saw the amount. On the lips. And she didn't even feel particularly dirty about it either, which would have really worried her if that very morning she hadn't been able to walk through her building's lobby rather than sneaking down the fire escape just her avoid her landlord. "Jiraiya thought you'd need some convincing."

The man lifted an eyebrow at her as she began to rummage around in her satchel. She spared him a glance through her bangs and then looked quickly back to the task at hand. Okay, so someone _obviously_ worked out. This gig might not be all bad. At the risk of being a total bitch, she was expecting someone shorter, hairier, and with possibly more than one skin disease. At _best_ she had been expecting someone like Jiraiya and while the man _was_ kind of good-looking, no—just no.

"Ah!" she chirped happily, her hand finally falling upon the book that she had been half-tempted to wrap in brown paper just to avoid the off chance of it falling out in her building's lobby and someone seeing it. She wasn't exactly a prude but there were just some rumors that didn't need to be getting around; especially not with that creeper living in the flat beside hers. "Okay, so he gave this to me as a bargaining chip, a 'don't harass the pretty maid and you get it' deal. He told me that this was a one-of-a-kind, advanced copy of—" Sakura stopped short as she jerked her hand up and back to hold the book out of the man's reach as he lunged for it. Her free hand planted itself on his chest to hold him back and she lifted her eyebrows again. "Icha Icha Adventures. _Fanboy_ much?"

Kakashi narrowed his eyes at her and she smiled faintly to herself. Well, he was awake now at least. "Give," he ordered.

Sakura smiled and shoved him away gently. "In a minute. You should know that I'm changing the terms a _little_," she replied, pinching her fingertips together. "It's still a bargaining chip, but it's more of a 'you don't kick me out and I don't light this on fire' deal. Mm-kay?"

"That's blackmail."

"No. It's closer to extortion." She tipped her head to the side and placed her free hand on her hip, trying to assume the posture she did when she was bargaining with her parents. "C'mon, Hatake-san. I'm really very nice. I can run errands for you, I'm a decent cook, I'm willing to make a go at making this place inhabitable, which I'm sure is more than what you could say for anyone else in Japan. I bet there are homicide clean-up crews who'd run away screaming from this mess. What do you say? Your publishing house is paying me, so you're not really losing anything on this deal. I don't even really mind the disgusting posters on your ceiling."

His eyes narrowed as he glanced up at one of the aforementioned posters. Then, slowly his gaze drifted to the book in her hand and then to her face. She smiled and his shoulders, which had squared presumably in preparation to jump her and forcefully relieve her of the prized book, slumped again. "How many days are you working?"

"I think the idea is that I come by every day."

His lip curled a little at that. "Fine. Book."

Sakura nodded and held the book out to him, but quickly jerked it away again. "On second thought," she began, tapping her chin as he groped in disappointment at the empty air. "I should probably hang onto this. For a while at least, I mean. Just until you realize you can't live without me."

He scowled. She grinned. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

* * *

Kakashi appreciated Sakura's attempts to be an inconspicuous addition in his house, but they fell rather flat in such a small apartment. To be fair that wasn't her fault. Well, no. It kind of was. She might not have been able to help the fact that her parents were very kind and blessed her with genes that made her very attractive, but she was at fault for wearing _that skirt_.

Or at the very least he was feeling uncharitable enough to blame her for that, even as he amused himself by watching her as she cleaned. Bending, straightening, bending, crouching, straightening, bending… it was almost better than the fitness channel.

"So, you draw manga. Do you write too?"

"Yeah."

She glanced back at him as if expecting something more and then after a beat moved to dump a pile of filthy dishes into the sink, apparently giving up.

Kakashi could see where this was going to get troublesome. After all, this was one of the reasons why he didn't have a woman in his life. Hell, this was one of the reasons why he chose to be alone period. Conversations with people—people that he didn't work with and fans that didn't know his work better than him, anyway—were labyrinthine and littered with dangerous pitfalls and traps. Saying the wrong thing reaped horrible consequences. Feelings were fragile, like sugar-spun glass. People were offended by honesty, even when wrapped in a heavy layer of fluff. In a way, one was expected to be an exceptional dancer and Kakashi felt he had two left feet.

So, it was easier to just not bother. People he worked with excused it as the artistic temperament and he could hold up a conversation with readers as long as it revolved around when the next volume would be out.

Sakura allowed for neither of those options.

"It's a series called Strings," he began awkwardly. "There are a few different series under the title, but they all take place in the same world."

"And it's…"

"Porn."

She nodded. "What got you into that?"

"Puberty."

At this she laughed aloud and it made Kakashi smile. It was a pleasant sound, high and airy. (It was at this time that he should have realized that he was doomed.)

"What do you do?"

Sakura shrugged. "Right now I'm taking a year off before going to college."

"So this is a summer gig?"

"I don't know. If your publisher keeps paying me as well as they promised to and as long as you're not completely unbearable, you might never get rid of me."

Kakashi frowned at the ceiling. Well, that certainly put a damper on his intentions to live the rest of his life isolated from all human contact that didn't include the food delivery guys. Then again, there were numerous and far less agreeable kinds of interruptions. Interruptions that didn't wearing tiny, frilly skirts for example. "So you're eighteen."

"Just turned in March. How old are you?"

"Thirty."

"Younger than I thought. The hair kind of threw me."

"Does a lot of people."

She hummed and kicked a few dirty shirts into a laundry basket.

* * *

Kakashi woke some hours later to find that the only light coming in through his window was the soft glow of the streetlamp, which he could only really see with one eye. There was a blue sticky note over the other.

Groaning, he grabbed the square of paper and then sat up so that some of the light from the window hit it. There was a quickly drawn flower in the upper left and painfully neat writing beneath a phone number: _Call me if you need anything. The apartment's clean and dinner's on the stove. I didn't want to wake you again. I took your house key to make a copy. I'll be back tomorrow around the same time._

Once he managed to process this, he turned to survey the room around him.

_Wow._ When did the place get so spacious? And he could hardly remember the last time he saw the floor. He rolled out of bed and uneasily began exploring this new, bizarre territory.

The counters in the kitchenette were practically sparkling and as he ventured across the room and opened a cupboard, he realized that all of the plates were, beyond all reasonable expectations, just as freakishly clean. To his disappointment she hadn't forgotten her bag and, consequently, the book, which docked a couple hundred points from her score, but his reasons for firing her were quickly disappearing on him.

His last hope of having a reasonable excuse to get rid of her was that the food on the stove. Maybe it would be utterly toxic. After all, being a good housekeeper didn't equate being an excellent—oh, _great_. That smelled heavenly, although Kakashi could admit that he was hardly a gourmet. Years of take-out food and microwave dinners did tend to deteriorate the senses. Curiosity nagging at the back of his mind, he reached for the fridge, tugged the door open, and then gaped a bit in wonder at the fact that not only were the glass jars of ancient, unidentifiable _stuff_ gone, but that it was clean and filled with real food—raw vegetables and fruit, things that he hadn't touched in decades.

It was all so _surreal_, almost as alien to him as mornings. It felt a bit like he was standing in the middle of someone else's house right down to the vague scent of citrus fruit hanging in the air.

Well, it was just a bonus that she was good at her job, he reasoned with himself. After all, he _couldn't_ fire her. She still had his book and he suspected that her threats of violating the precious script were not to be taken lightly. So she could stay. At least until he managed to get it away from her.

* * *

Sakura liked to think of her morning routine as a workout in and of itself. The mess that Kakashi could make in a single night was just astounding and it was important to get to his place by nine in order to finish the cleaning before she had to start on lunch, which he was occasionally awake for. In reality she was cooking simply to stock his fridge with better options than take-out and whatever mystery meat had once inhabited the fridge. Honestly, she had almost been afraid to touch it.

But that wasn't really the work-out part. The work-out part came in at seven-thirty when she rolled out of bed, ran to the shower, washed and shaved in record time, stumbled out, got dressed, and packed her satchel. The rush was necessary because following this was the run down the hallway to the elevator and this had to be done in such a way that it didn't draw the attention of her neighbor, or, as she called him, Sleazebag-san.

On this particular morning, she was ten minutes behind schedule and found herself rushing out of the apartment in her stocking feet, her shoes in hand. She was just getting in the elevator when his door opened and the man himself oozed out into the hallway. Sure, he was tall and good-looking. Sure, he worked at a tech company and made more money in a day than she did (or rather used to) in a week. Sure, he was attracted to her like flies were attracted to sugar, but her finger was on the "close door" button the entire time, even as he ran for the elevator, one hand in the air and a big grin on his face. She didn't even bother to hide her cheeky smile as the doors shut almost on his nose.

It really was the little things.

Like putting a vase of daisies on Kakashi's windowsill. It was such a small thing and yet it made her happy, like she was getting away with something criminal. Mostly because she knew he'd complain. He'd complain, but he'd never quite muster the energy to remove said vase.

Despite her initial feelings, it wasn't the worst day job in the world. If nothing else, Sakura was finding the man entertaining. Well, entertaining in between the times that he was downright exasperating. Entertaining in between his bouts of openly gawking at her legs to the point where she was half-tempted to ask him if he knew what color her eyes were. But he was entertaining. And _interesting_. There were moments when he was surprisingly fun to talk to (when she could get him to talk at all), revealing depths that he didn't seem to want to acknowledge. And he wasn't hard to work for really. That was more of a bonus than she could say.

Sakura was putting the last of the dirty dishes in the sink when the lump of flesh and bone that was Kakashi finally came to consciousness and rolled off of his futon. She watched him, a tiny, bemused smile on her lips as he dragged himself across the floor to the bathroom. The door shut and a moment later the shower kicked on. Sakura rolled her eyes. Okay, so sometimes he was just _pathetic_.

It was about ten minutes later when the water shut off. She looked up when she heard the bathroom door open, ready to ask Kakashi a question, but then stopped herself short.

So, Kakashi shirtless wasn't anything new. In fact, she was pretty sure that after two weeks of existing alongside him and his (for a man who never seemed to leave the house) well-sculpted chest, she had grown an immunity to nice pectorals. But the fact that his sweats were missing in lieu of a towel was a bit distracting. Just a bit.

It took Kakashi about a minute of rooting around in his dresser to finally notice her (still standing, gaping, staring) and for just a moment he looked surprised—as if he had forgotten all together that he had a housekeeper. Then he began to grin that lazy, lopsided grin that changed him from an attractive man into a downright handsome one. Then he gasped and slapped his hands over his chest as if attempting to save his virtue. "Sakura!"

She stared at him for all of second longer and then collapsed in a fit of laughter against the countertop. "You're pathetic," she scolded, one hand over her mouth to stifle her giggling. "You're utterly shameless and we both know it."

"Hey, it's only fair," he replied, his hands dropping back to his sides.

"Oh?"

He scoffed. "As if I haven't noticed the dirty looks you shoot my way."

"Oh, that's different! You stare all the time. I think you attempt look up my skirt more often than Jiraiya tries to look down my blouse."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this as he shimmied into a pair of boxers, awkwardly arranging them under his towel before casting it off. It was only a tiny improvement. Kind of. "First of all, shame on you for going along with that old double standard—if you get to ogle me, there's no reason I shouldn't be able to return the compliment. Secondly, as interesting as I'm sure your choice of undergarments are—and I'm willing to bet that if I've seen one pair of girl-boxers, I've seen them all—I'm not trying to look up your skirt."

Sakura blinked. It sounded like she had _offended_ him. Also, how did he know what kind of underwear she wore if he wasn't looking? "Then what are you doing?"

* * *

Kakashi could almost taste his own foot. There wasn't a way to explain himself without it coming out… creepy. Well, no way to say it to Sakura at least because no matter how strangely and almost disconcertingly comfortable he felt with her, they had only known one another for a couple weeks. He glanced up at his ceiling thoughtfully. A sizable pair of breasts stared back down at him and he smiled. "You don't look like that," he said, pointing.

Sakura frowned and crossed the room to stand beside him. She snorted as she looked up. "And thank God. You realize that if anyone's breasts were that large they'd have _serious_ back pain?"

He laughed despite himself, grinning at her and the way her lips were twisted into a disapproving frown as she glared at one Jiraiya's most prized female leads. It was even kind of cute how she crossed her arms insecurely over her own chest. "Exactly. It's… nice having a real individual of the female persuasion around. I'm just... basking in it."

Sakura stared at him, obviously as skeptical as he was because he wasn't even quite buying that line. But, to his relief, she simply shook her head rather than slapping him as he had anticipated. "You know, you're not a bad looking guy, Hatake-san," she murmured. "You could probably _have_ a real woman."

"I could."

"So, why don't you?"

He shrugged.

"I see." She was smiling now. "You're unable to have a committed relationship because of some dark, bleak past, right? Because you're the anti-hero."

"That's probably one of the nicer explanation I've heard for it. If a bit melodramatic."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him and turned away. Apparently he wasn't as subtle as he thought he was at dodging questions.

Kakashi watched her as she returned to the sink. "So… how long do you think you're going to keep my book?"

She glanced up at him and laughed. "I don't know. I suppose until I can trust you not to fire me."

"I just said I liked having you around."

"I also like my neighbor's cat when he drops by my flat, but just as soon as she comes home, I toss him out in the hallway," the girl replied with a glance over her shoulder and a smile. "Do you want me to start on lunch? Or breakfast, in your case."

He sighed. "Sure."

* * *

Oh, not good.

Not good on so many levels of not goodness.

Kakashi didn't even realize what he was doing until a familiar face was staring up at him from the page of his fresh sketchbook. It was a doodle, he tried to justify to himself. She was around and it didn't mean anything that she ended up in his notebook. It was like artists who drew fruit or rooms or trees. She was there so he drew her.

Except he found himself fiddling over the proportions because, no offense to Sakura, but her breasts weren't that big. So he drew her again and oh _shit_ he was in trouble now because it was kind of an interesting challenge to draw a woman who didn't come with her own flotation devices (and _fun_ to draw someone with such a genuinely tiny waist).

The clothes looked a bit bland for Sakura though. What had she worn the day before? A sundress with clunky, American-style boots and a ratty vest—a bit like she had gotten dressed in the dark. Like every other day. Colors and textures that didn't _quite_ go together—chunky hiking boots with pretty, frilly skirts, dainty slippers with boyish cargos and a baseball cap—seemed to be her quirk.

And it made for a rather aesthetic, both in real life and on the page.

_Shit_.

"Hatake-san?"

He slapped the sketchbook closed when her voice was suddenly too close for comfort. He suspected that it would serve him better to keep this disturbing development a secret. Her disapproval of what he did was subtle, but she always regarded his shelves of books with a scowl and was visibly annoyed by the drawings she did see him working on. It was safe to assume that she wouldn't appreciate _being_ drawn, even if it was entirely innocent (and oddly enough it was). But, still, he'd play it safe. After all, he had watched her lift his futon—frame and all—the other day without any assistance in order to clean under it and it was probably best not to piss off inordinately strong young women.

"I'm going to go now, I think."

Kakashi turned to look at the clock and then face her, frowning. She was right behind him, shrugging into one of her coats. "So early? It's not even three."

"Well, I kind of have a date tonight." She shrugged. "It isn't a big deal. My friend is just setting me up with a guy she knows, so I feel like I kind of have to go, but if you need me to stay for any reason…"

"No." It came out a little too quickly for his liking. It was also a little bothersome that it felt like a denial of the vague feeling of jealousy bubbling in his chest, because _of course _she had friends to go see because she was only _eighteen_ for God's sake and hanging around his place was her _job_. "Thank you, Sakura. Have fun."

And it wasn't like saying her name felt horribly weird.

What the hell was wrong with him? Maybe Jiraiya was right. He needed to get out more often.

She smiled. "First names now?"

He shrugged in reply. "Unless that's a little too casual for you."

"Not at all." She pulled the strap of her satchel over her head and the turned toward the door. "Later, Kakashi."

* * *

Sakura knew that a date was over when the desire to put her head through the table outweighed her desire to stay a second longer. Incidentally, the first usually climbed in direct proportion with how touchy-feely he got under the table and it usually went through the roof after the second time she had to shove his hand off of her thigh. This was the third date in a row that she had copped out of early by feigning a headache. Wait… maybe it was the fourth?

Well, Ino would have the exact score the next day anyway.

She sighed as she stumbled into her apartment, grateful that her neighbor seemed to be busy entertaining a guest, but a bit annoyed at how loudly he was doing so. She glared at their adjoining wall as she pulled off her heels and made a face. Okay, she was so _not_ putting up with that all night. If it didn't stop soon, they could count on an unscheduled fire drill ruining their evening.

With her mood now totally soured, she stomped her way to the bathroom and proceeded to scrub every trace of date make-up off, wishing to scour away the experience with it. She wasn't quite sure where Ino got these guys, but her supply seemed endless. The worst part that the blond thought that she was being a friend and therefore couldn't be blamed or cursed. The accusation that she needed to get a life was one that she had fielded many times before and Ino was one of the biggest advocates of it, although all she was accomplishing was stockpiling Sakura with a supply of horrible date stories to share with her future children. If she had any.

It was just very possible, she was beginning to think, that there was just something fundamentally wrong with _her_.

Sighing, Sakura dried her face on the towel draped over the shower door and then pulled her dress up over her head on her way to her bedroom (or rather where her futon laid behind a privacy curtain hung from the ceiling). Along the way, her phone began to ring and she swiped it up off the cupboard and answered without glancing at the number.

"Hello?" She propped it between her jaw and shoulder as she fumbled to undo the hooks of her bra.

_"Damn. I was kind of hoping to get your voicemail. Sorry about this."_

Sakura smiled, though she wasn't quite sure why especially since a small part of her felt incredibly strange answering the phone while topless. "It's all right, Kakashi. What's up?"

_"I'm not interrupting your date?"_

"Nope. The date got cut short. What's up?"

_"That was quick. It's not even nine."_

"Yeah, it was kind of a dud. Kakashi, did you call me just to hear my voice or what?"

He laughed at her and she smiled a little wider. _"Sorry. Bring by some bottled water in the morning."_

Sakura cringed as the noises from next door got a little louder.

_"Strangling a cat to get your frustrations out?"_

"No," she sighed. "That's my neighbor. He's… _bizzay_ as a friend of mine would put it."

_"Ah, you see that's why I live at the end of the row and rent out the apartment next to me."_

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, well your company isn't paying me that well." She glanced at the adjoining wall again. "Actually… would you mind if I brought the water over now? There's a twenty-four hour store on the corner and they're liable to keep this up all night and I know you'll be up until the most ungodly hour…"

_"Uh… sure. What kind of employer would I be if I let you sit through that?"_

"A typical one. I'll be over in a little bit."

* * *

"What's this?"

Sakura grinned as she dropped two canvas bags of dirty laundry onto the step outside of Kakashi's flat. "My laundry," she said. "I figured that I can just take it and yours down to the Laundromat tonight and that'll definitely kill some time."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he leaned against the frame. "Carrying all of that down there by yourself?"

"Nope. You're coming with."

"Who says? I might be doing incredibly important work."

"You mean you're busy doodling in your sketchpad?"

He eyed her and Sakura smiled all the wider. For whatever reason, being able to be a merciless pain in his ass rubbed a bit of balm on the sore that was her evening thus far. In fact, just being around Kakashi made everything better to some degree. She blamed this on his attitude. There was something inherently relaxing about being around someone who was so laidback he spent half of the day asleep. Especially since she had always wished she could be a little more like that.

"Will this help me get that book any sooner?"

"Maybe."

Kakashi rolled his eyes, but nodded and turned back inside, leaving the door open for her to follow.

* * *

"So, how bad was the date?"

Sakura sighed. There was something kind of relaxing about the Laundromat; some combination of the scent of detergent and softener and the loud hum of the washer in the backdrop. She and Kakashi were the only people there, sitting together on one of the folding tables with their backs to the wall and their laundry bags at their feet. "On a scale of one to ten?"

"Sure."

"A twelve, at least."

He laughed at this and she nudged him with her elbow with a frown. "Sorry," he apologized, but he hardly sounded sincere. "Was he just boring, or what?"

"Boring and skeezy," she replied with a shrug. "His hand seemed magnetically attracted to my thigh and maybe I'm a little old-fashioned, but I don't catch passes on the first date."

His gaze dropped to her legs. "I don't know if I really blame him. It's a nice thigh."

Sakura nudged him again. "If I wanted to date an octopus, I'd date my neighbor. I'm afraid to share an elevator with that man these days."

"Sounds like he's not short on company." Kakashi frowned a little, sparing her a sideways look. "Why does he harass you?"

"I think he's slept with every woman in our building and I'm just the last on his checklist. He's recently changed tactics. He's not being a forward pervert so much as more as he's trying to be a suave pervert, which is working out for him about as well as the former. On the plus side, it's more fun to turn him down now. But enough about the many creepy men of my acquaintance; let's change the subject."

"All right," Kakashi said. He glanced at her and then shrugged, "You mentioned before that Jiraiya was a family friend?"

The girl laughed and spared him a sideways look. "_Yeah_. Believe me, that's not something I admit very often. But, yes. He's a friend of my grandmother's…"

* * *

It was fortunate that they had waited until their clothes were dry and bagged to screw around with the laundry carts. Kakashi accused Sakura of starting it, but she was quick to point out that she had only mentioned that she had always wanted to ride around in one. He hadn't needed to _comply_ with this whimsical little notion.

At any rate, they were going to have to find a new Laundromat for their next adventure out because the owner, who lived above the place and was woken by Sakura's raucous laughter and shrieks when Kakashi nearly pushed her into a wall, was not best pleased by their actions.

"Your fault!" Kakashi shouted at her back as the girl ran ahead of him. The shouting of the broom-wielding Laundromat owner was not yet out of earshot and they didn't want to be anywhere in the area just in case the little old woman was more fearsome than she looked. Well, really it was just in case her son, for whom she was yelling as they were scrambling out the door, was the fearsome one.

Sakura laughed as she looked back at him, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright. "Just keep up!"

Some minutes later they rounded the corner, turning onto the road her apartment building was on. Sakura turned around and swung her laundry bags at him, laughing. "You're a pretty good sprinter for a guy who spends all of his time sleeping and writing porn," she said, walking backwards so that she could face him.

Kakashi pouted as he blocked her bags with his. "I work out," he insisted.

"And thank God for as much as you walk around shirtless." She grinned at him and then stopped, turning to look down the street. "Well, my building is just up here. I can go the rest of the way on my own, I think." She looked to him and, slowly, her grin softened into a genuine smile and she let out a contented sigh. "You know what?"

"What?"

Sakura swung her laundry bags over her shoulder and propped her other hand on her hip. "I had a lot of fun tonight." She let out a giggle, as if surprised by the idea. "You were a better date than my actual date."

The man shrugged, trying to ignore the fact that he was a bit proud to receive such a compliment. "With age comes experience."

Another giggle and she took a step closer. Her hand moved from her hip to his neck and with a gentle tug, she guided him down to her height and pecked him on the cheek, leaving a grease mark of vanilla-flavored lip balm behind. "Thanks, Kakashi. You're a good boss, a good date, and actually a bit of a knight in shining armor if you think about it."

"Yes, that's me," he deadpanned as her hand dropped back to her side, "Holding open doors, walking ladies home, and saving damsels from having to listen to their skeezy neighbors getting it on."

"And they say chivalry is dead," she replied. She smiled a little wider. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

Kakashi nodded and watched her as she turned and started off down the street. He lingered until she reached the entrance, where she paused to wave at him before disappearing inside. Then he stayed a moment longer, just staring at the spot where she had once been and wondering why he kind of missed her already.

* * *

"I want you so much, Kakashi. Quit teasing."

Contrary to what one might thing, Kakashi didn't often dream of sex. Sex was usually one of those 'secret' things in a person's life. It was usually something they didn't talk about or even acknowledge; something they repressed. However, sex was in a lot of ways Kakashi's business, so while it had been some time since his last roll in the sack (so long that he couldn't properly remember just _how_ long), it wasn't as if he was necessarily _deprived_ of it.

So finding himself in such a dream came as something of a surprise and it was even more of a shock when he realized just who he was with.

"Sakura." He groaned it into the shell of her ear as her hips—her legs wrapped around his middle—arched up into him. The heat of her arousal seared him through his sweats and a new fire raged to life under his skin, setting his whole body alight in a way that he wasn't sure sex had ever managed in the past.

And they hadn't even gotten to that part.

He mouthed a spot on her neck as his hands explored the wonderful, feminine curves of her waist. She wasn't spectacularly well-endowed—not even here in his dreams—but she hardly needed to be. He liked _all_ aspects of a woman's body and of course he didn't _mind_ a handful of breast or ass, but there was something markedly under-appreciated about how painfully sexy a woman's waist could be.

"Kakashi," she whispered as her fingers raked through his hair and then down his shoulders. Her voice was soft and pleading; seductive without meaning to be. "Kakashi, come here… kiss me."

He made it a point to tease her, taking his time with the sculpted curve of her jaw and that soft spot just behind her ear. She laughed at him again and, when he didn't feel particularly offended by that like he might in reality or in any other dream, he realized that this obviously wasn't the hot, frenetic foreplay shared between two new lovers. This was the foreplay of a comfortable, long-standing relationship and it felt quite bizarre.

But even so, Kakashi couldn't quite shake his disappointment when he opened his eyes just before he could actually kiss her and the feeling lingered, boring a hole in his stomach even as he lay wide-awake in his futon staring at the wall.

Yeah. He was pretty sure that this was worse than the drawings.

* * *

1. Hi.

2. ...

3. Yeah I don't really know what to say for myself either.

4. Then again, who are you to ask for logic? You read this thing.

5. All right, all right. This idea came about... I assume because I liked the idea of Kakashi wandering around in sweats. That and I couldn't shake the question: "What would all of the characters' modern/RL equivalents be like? How would the Kaka/Saku relationship work in modern day without the teacher/student framing device?" And since I see Kakashi being a socially awkward loner type, it made sense to take that a step farther and make him almost a total hermit and how better for a repressed romantic to make money than to write and draw smut? And how better for Sakura to enter his life than to take on the role as the intrusive, quirky female?

6. I also might have been binging on romantic comedies. Maybe.

7. And I said that this would be a two-shot in the note in House Calls, but it might very well be a three-parter. NO LONGER. If I let myself, I could make this drag on for AGES.

8. Besides, I had this deliciously fun idea to bring in living, grown-up Obito (and, bite me, I see him being _gorgeous_) and I want to _explore_ that—suggestive turn of voice optional. So basically I'm taking this as my opportunity to ply canon with wine and chocolate and take advantage of it—suggestive turn of voice... not really needed.

9. I poke copious amounts of fun at him here, but understand that I do love Jiraiya to bits. Mostly because I usually like to focus on the depth of his character rather than just on the fact that he's a pervert. ... Okay, I know that here we're pretty much just getting the pervert, but this story isn't about him, is it?

10. I justify the quickness of the relationship in this manner: Kakashi and Sakura have good chemistry. Their personalities play well off of each other because of the contrast with Kakashi being lazy and laidback and Sakura being more energetic and emotional. In House Calls, the relationship moves at a snail's pace towards romance... because they've known each other for seven years. But shouldn't that make it move faster? No. Because not only was he her 'teacher' for a good amount of that time but he was also her friend and comrade. When we have established feelings for someone, it takes a lot longer for those feelings to shift than, say, the feelings involved in a newborn relationship.

**(All right, I'm done talking your ears off. Please review if you want to see more. Rated T for now because I'm not quite sure how citrusy this is going to get.)**


	2. Bonds

**Blithe Spirits**

**Part 2**

**Note: **Buckle up, it's a long haul.

* * *

"How's my favorite godchild?"

"I wouldn't know. I haven't talked to Naruto this week and he's the only one unfortunate enough to hold that title."

Jiraiya grinned at Sakura and propped himself lazily against the frame of her apartment door. "I'm wounded," he teased with a hand pressed to his chest.

Sakura rolled her eyes and stepped to the side to let him in. Her exasperation, like her grandmother's, was mostly an act. The man was harmless. Well, no; not harmless. One didn't call someone like Jiraiya, who had apparently been quite the scrapper in his younger years and stood taller and broader than most men of Sakura's acquaintance, 'harmless' without qualification. More accurately, _she_ had nothing to fear of him. Even his tendency to perv on her was more or less innocent—or as innocent as such things could be—and was easily corrected with a swift slap upside the head; a technique taught to her by the very woman who had patented it.

"What do you want, Jii-chan?" she asked, pausing at the fridge to grab a tub of yogurt. Her morning schedule was beginning to slip. For the last week, she had been staying extra late at Kakashi's, helping him organize his rather impressive collection of books, which to her shock were not _all_ pornographic. Just most of them.

He shrugged amiably as he surveyed the apartment, looking incredibly out of place while he was at it. Then again, Jiraiya looked out of place most everywhere he went. Sakura blamed his hair for that. "Nothing much. I just wanted to check on my new favorite employee on my way to the office."

Sakura hopped up onto the kitchen countertop, a spoon and yogurt in hand. "You're throwing around the word 'favorite' a lot."

He grinned at her. "You're too much like your grandmother; so suspicious."

"Not without good reason," she argued.

The man shrugged and slid his hands easily into his pockets. "How's everything going with Kakashi?"

"Fine."

"Fine?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You sound like you were expecting something else," she said. She pursed her lips in a frown and tipped her head. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing!" Jiraiya insisted, holding his hands up in surrender. He rubbed at the back of his neck and craned his head to one side. "I just wanted to make sure everything was all right. I haven't heard anything from you and it's been a month."

"Thought he'd fire me by now?"

"Well, yeah."

Sakura nodded. "Well, we're getting along great and quit watching me eat."

Jiraiya quickly averted his eyes. "So, the job's working out then? I know that Kakashi can be a little hard to work with; the creative temperament and all."

"The creative temperament makes you a lazy-ass?" she wondered with a quirked eyebrow and a faint smile. "Huh, interesting. At any rate, that's not a problem for us. We've reached an understanding. In fact, I think we're more like friends than employee and employer. "

Jiraiya looked vaguely impressed for a moment and then paused and pointed to a book sitting on top of her fridge. "Is that the copy of Icha Icha Adventures I gave you?"

Sakura glanced up at the fridge innocently as she took another bite of yogurt. "Oh, well and then there's that."

He gaped at her. "What do you mean 'and then there's that'? I figured that giving him the book was the only thing that kept him from kicking you out of the apartment on the first day," he replied, reaching up to pull the now dusty manuscript down and examining the cover. "Hell, I kind of thought he'd kick you out anyway…"

She frowned. "You sent me figuring on that?"

"Well, _yeah_," he said matter-of-factly. He flipped through a few pages, paused on one, and began to smirk at the drawing.

Sakura was not in the position to slap him to get his attention, so she improvised and threw her spoon at his head. Without looking up, he caught the projectile and earned an even darker look from the girl. When he finally deigned to look her way, he smiled warmly at the tight frown on her lips as he tossed the utensil carelessly into the sink. "What would have happened if I had given him the book and he fired me anyway?" she demanded as she reached over, opened a drawer, and pulled out another spoon. She contemplated throwing this one at him too.

The man looked upwards, away, down , and then finally to her again; in all likelihood searching for an answer that wouldn't get him smacked or, worse, reported to her grandmother. He scratched his cheek thoughtfully as he grimaced. "I might have thought it'd be nice to have a secretary as pretty as you and figured you'd need to be softened up to the idea…"

She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Scared yours off already?" she deadpanned.

"Something like that," Jiraiya murmured. He paused thoughtfully for a moment and made a face but just a quickly shook it off. "But this isn't about that. Why do you still have the book? I was hoping for his opinion on it before it was released."

"Well, you'll probably have to make-do without—his opinion and me as a secretary," she said, shrugging. "I'm keeping the book until I _know_ he won't fire me."

"Blackmail?"

"_Extortion_. I would've thought you dated enough of your company lawyers to know the difference," she chided, reaching out for the book. "I'm half tempted to burn the thing _anyway_… stop looking at me like I just threatened to murder your firstborn."

Jiraiya pouted even as he handed her the book. "You would burn art? Sakura, I'm ashamed!"

"Aren't we big-headed?" she snorted. "Isn't it usually someone else's job to call your work 'art'? Not _yours_?"

"Not the point. You probably haven't even read it, have you?" he asked.

"Actually, I did. Or a part of it anyway." She crossed the room to the couch, where her satchel lay, and pulled the strap across her shoulders as she shuffled into her sandals.

"Oh?" The man seemed surprised and genuinely delighted by the prospect. "What did you think?"

Sakura spared him a sideways look. "I think the lead character is too much like Grandma for me to be entirely comfortable finishing it."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." He glanced away for a moment and then back. "Don't tell her, okay?"

She smiled and held out a hand, her pinkie extended.

He grinned and humored her by hooking his little finger around hers. Her smile softened with nostalgia as she remembered a time when he had just been the weird guy who made faces at her grandmother behind her back… and got slapped anyway because the woman saw _everything_. Ultimately, no matter how much she whined, she liked Jiraiya. In fact, it was kind of impossible not to. Her grandmother certainly had given it a fair go and was even to this day flummoxed by the challenge.

"So, when _are_ you going to tell Grandma?" she asked. "Because I so want to be the flower girl. Walk me downstairs?"

"You're too old to be a flower girl."

"Well, you'd be older than most people getting married, so it works."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and moved to the door, pulling it open and stepping aside. "You just stay out of it," he said, shooing her out into the hallway. "When do you meet Kakashi?"

"I'm usually over there by nine, but today I'm obviously running a little late. Not that he'll notice, he's probably still asleep." She had her hair pulled forward over her right shoulder, working it into a braid as she walked and then sliding the elastic tie off of her wrist to finish the end. "Grandma would probably say 'yes'."

"So damn persistent," he muttered as he punched the button on the elevator. "Stay out of it."

Sakura shrugged and was _thisclose_ to dropping it when she noticed something. Her grin was wide and vicious as she turned fully toward him, feeling brave enough to grab onto one of his jacket lapels. "Are you _blushing_?"

Jiraiya slapped a hand to his face in exasperation (although, she couldn't help but note that this also helped hide any potential evidence of her accusation). "Just get in the elevator," he growled.

She made a shrill, high-pitched sound and then broke into raucous laughter before stumbling into the elevator car.

* * *

Seeing Jiraiya was usually more of a hassle than it was worth. However, being able to _mercilessly_ torment him from the fifth floor of her building, down to the lobby, and then halfway across town as they sat beside each other on the railcar had a strange, uplifting effect on her mood. She didn't even mind the walk from her stop to Kakashi's after that.

"Um, hello."

The man lifted a finger to his lips to shush her and Sakura blinked at him, poised with one hand on the handle of Kakashi's apartment door and the other buried in her satchel, replacing her keys.

Kakashi was asleep on his futon, snoring away as a man Sakura didn't recognize sat beside him, tickling Kakashi's nose with a scrap bit of paper and grinning as he snorted and swatted feebly at the interruption.

The man was… well, he was kind of _gorgeous_. Sakura pinked a little. He was wearing a pair of ratty jeans and sneakers with what looked like a fairly expensive sports-coat and wrinkled, untucked shirt, his dark hair was messy, but stylishly so, and his eyes were coal-colored and he was just so damn _pretty_ she found herself smiling like an idiot despite herse. Dear Lord, did she just squee?

"Hi?" she greeted wearily.

He shushed her again, this time with a friendly wink, and went right back to the task at hand.

Sakura stared for a moment. Well, for a crazed, breaking-and-entering psycho he seemed relatively harmless. And well-dressed. And pretty. What harm could he possibly do?

Shrugging, she shut the apartment door, placed the bags in her arms on the cupboard, and began to unpack. Maybe she should make enough food for three? Was crazy-man staying for lunch?

"Name's Obito," he said quietly, breaking the silence.

It didn't surprise her that Kakashi slept right on through it. She raised an eyebrow. "I'm Sakura."

He grinned. "Cool. You his girlfriend or something?"

Sakura shook her head. "Just his maid," she replied.

Obito's grin brightened a thousand fold. "No wonder this place is so clean!" he hissed. "I was beginning to wonder if he had hit his head and became a better person or something! Damn… all the maids my family hire look like Vikings. You're not looking for a better job, are you?"

She laughed. "No, I actually quite like it here."

"Crazy lady," he replied.

She smiled at him and shrugged. "A bit, maybe."

He, still baring all of his teeth in that goofy smile, hopped to his feet, moving quietly across the room to lean over the kitchen cupboard. "What are you doing?"

"Preparing lunch."

"Oh, you won't need to do that," he said with a dismissive wave. "I'm kidnapping him today."

Huh. So she had been right about that psycho thing. "Really? Against his will?"

"_Always_."

There was something pleasantly boyish about his face and his smile. Actually, there was just something rather pleasant about it altogether. Very pleasant. Sakura blinked, half-tempted to slap herself, but then that'd probably look pretty insane even to a man who was kidnapping her employer. "I see."

Obito propped his chin on his upturned palm. "I mean 'kidnap' in the friendliest way possible, you know," he clarified. "Kakashi and I go _way_ back."

"Oh? How far?"

He looked thoughtfully to the ceiling. "First year, elementary." His eyes returned to hers as did the grin return to his lips. "I bet we sound like real old fogies to you. You can't even be out of high school."

"That shows how much you know," she replied, trying to sound just as teasing and playful as him. "I'm eighteen. I graduated in March."

"Pretty _and_ legal," he said contemplatively. "You know, I could get some serious good karma points by saving you from Kakashi."

Sakura tried to ignore the heat on her cheeks. "And taking me away to work for you?" she wondered aloud, playfully.

Obito laughed. "Oh c'mon, it's not fair to think of it like that."

She smiled at him and then glanced passed his shoulder to Kakashi. "I don't know if he'll be up in time for lunch," she noted. "He's a pretty heavy sleeper."

"Tell me about it. I think he slept through every class from fourth year on."

"Oh?"

He nodded. "Then the bastard still had the nerve to ace everything," he replied. "We can let him sleep a little longer; we've got a third coming. Would you like to join us?"

"I wouldn't want to impose," she said, smiling now simply because his was so infectious. Wow, how was this guy Kakashi's friend again? She couldn't imagine any two people being more each other's polar opposite. Kakashi had a sense of humor, yes, but he was so reserved and cool, while Obito emitted an aura of humming, excited energy and happiness. It was kind of funny, actually. "Besides, I do have some work to get to around here."

Obito deflated a little. "Aw, fine. Maybe next time?"

"Maybe," Sakura agreed and he was smiling again at that. "So… are you and Kakashi in the same, um… business?"

"Tch, don't I wish?" He rolled his eyes. "There are several generations of my family that would roll over in the graves if their descendant was ever involved with that sort of thing. No, Uchiha do boring, dignified things like run international conglomerations and eat their own young."

Sakura laughed and was just about to reply when a curious thumping drew her attention toward the door. It was outside on the stairwell and drawing closer at a rapid pace. Obito was suddenly grinning again and she was just about to ask him what was going on when the door sudden lurched and then with a _BAM_ flew back on its hinges and smashed into the wall opposite, followed by a cry of: "_Dynamic Entry_!"

A quick succession of events followed this.

First: Sakura nearly leapt out of her skin.

Second: Kakashi jumped awake with a yelp and fell onto the floor, tangled in his sheets.

Third: Obito started to laugh so hard he was doubled over the counter with tears streaming down his face.

"Good morning!" bellowed the man in the doorway with a smile that seemed to generate its own light. "Uchiha Obito, my good friend! Hatake Kakashi, my eternal rival! How are you this beautiful day!"

Sakura blinked, trying to process what was happening. She had seen every one of the man's infomercials and had even bought one or two tapes, so there was no mistaking the fact that Maito Gai, the work-out guru, was standing in Kakashi's apartment. Fine. Sure. She could roll with that. In fact, it fit rather well into the way the morning was shaping up.

"Gai!" Obito managed to stagger his way over to the man and clap him on the back. "The door probably doesn't share my sentiments, but it's good to see you again, man!"

Gai let out a loud, booming laugh and Sakura found herself smiling and shaking her head in disbelief. How the hell was Kakashi, of all people, friends with these guys? "Likewise, my friend! It has been too long since we last had the chance to talk!" Dark eyes suddenly zeroed in on Sakura. "Ah! I see I have misplaced my manners! I did not see you there…?"

"Haruno Sakura," the girl replied, smiling even wider. There had to have been a rabbit hole she tripped down somewhere outside of her apartment.

He beamed at her. "What a beautiful name! And so fitting of someone so young and lovely!"

"I know, right?" Obito smiled at Sakura and then looked back over his shoulder Kakashi, who was scowling at them from the floor still. "Yo, you awake?"

Kakashi glared to the best of his sleepy-eyed ability. "What are you doing in my apartment?"

"Let myself in," Obito replied. "You need a deadbolt, dude. Now, go get showered or we're taking Sakura with us to lunch instead."

"I'm willing to make that sacrifice."

The dark-haired man looked to Sakura and rolled his eyes. "C'mon man, you knew this was coming. Second Monday of every month!"

Sakura pulled herself up onto the counter as she watched Obito begin to root around in Kakashi's dresser drawers. She looked back to Gai. She always expected people on television to look different in real life, but he looked pretty much the same. And the eyebrows were real. She smiled again to herself. The eyebrows were real but he wasn't necessarily bad looking. In contrast to Obito, he was perhaps a little less refined, but then others might be inclined to say that Obito was perhaps too _pretty._

(Kakashi was somewhere perfectly in the middle ground, but she tried to ignore that.)

It only took a second too long of staring for him to notice her. He smiled and held a hand out to shake. "I keep forgetting my manners! I am Maito Gai!"

He was Maito Gai and he spoke in the language of exclamation points. Sakura laughed at the thought and took his hand. "I know. I've seen your commercials," she said conversationally. "A friend of mine is a real fan of yours."

"Wonderful! I am heartened to learn that there are those who embrace hard work and take advantage of their youth!"

"Tone it down, Gai," Obito said. "You'll scare her off."

Gai frowned—it could have even been mistaken for a pout—but it disappeared quickly as he looked back to Sakura. "So, how is it that you know Kakashi?"

"I'm his babysitter."

"Housekeeper," Kakashi interjected from the floor.

Gai stared at his friend and then looked to Sakura who mouthed the word, "babysitter" with a knowing nod. He grinned and winked in reply.

* * *

"How was lunch?" Sakura asked from the floor as Kakashi entered his apartment. She was busily organizing his books again, the paperbacks spread out all around her in stacks and piles. Her shoes were forgotten by the door (his soon joining hers) leaving her in just her stocking feet (said stockings stretched all the way up her thighs).

"It was fine."

Sakura hummed softly and after a moment of simply standing and staring down at her, Kakashi dropped to the floor beside her.

"What letter are we on?" he asked.

"'C' I believe."

"All right."

She turned on him, her expression exasperated. "We've been at this for a week and we're _only_ on the letter 'C'… you don't see anything wrong with that?"

"Not at all." He kept his tone deadpan and his features schooled in an expression of neutrality. "I'm a bibliophile."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're a something-phile, all right."

"Such witty repartee," he replied with a sideways look at her. "You cut me."

She eyed him and then reached out and punched his shoulder and he finally smiled. He always enjoyed riling her up and she knew that. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him. "Sick-o," she accused, but she was smiling. After a moment she turned away, reaching for another stack. "So, you had fun at lunch?"

He shrugged.

She punched him again. "C'mon, Obito and Gai seem like great guys," she said. "I bet they're a lot of fun."

"They'll be thrilled. They liked you a lot too." He began to frown as he remembered lunch, remembered Obito going on and on about how lucky he was, about her being a sweet, pretty girl and how you didn't find one of those around just any corner. "Obito especially," he muttered. "He couldn't stop talking about you…"

At this, Sakura's cheeks went a little pink. "Really?" she asked. She smiled and then bit her lip to suppress it. "_Hm_."

"'_Hm_', what?" he asked. Wanting to punch Obito was not a _new_ sensation (there was, in fact, something rather familiar and nostalgic about it), but he felt that he was probably a little too old to want to hit his friend because a girl liked him more. Not that that changed anything.

She shrugged and looked to him. "Nothing," she replied. "He's just a really good looking guy and it's… nice, I guess… to be noticed."

Ah, it had been so long since he had been punched in the gut. He had forgotten what it felt like. "_Hm_."

"'_Hm_' what?" she retorted with a bright smile and a well-aimed poke at his ribs. "C'mon, talk."

Hatake Kakashi didn't have relationships for a lot of reasons. He wasn't in a business of which many women approved. He wasn't a high energy individual; couldn't stand the tedium of dating; couldn't stand the pressure of impressing someone because he honestly couldn't believe he had much to offer. He wasn't good with emotions or words except when he could put them down on paper and speak them through a character. At the best of times, he felt only vaguely out of place like when he was with Gai and Obito but at the worst he felt totally alien. It was easier to stay at arm's length.

But, to his never-ending amazement, a lot of those things simply ceased to be with Sakura's presence.

Because she was like him. Well, in ways that counted. There had been three more failed dates since that night that had ended at the Laundromat and three more "make-up dates" (as Sakura called them). One night they had gone grocery shopping at a twenty-four hour place. Another night they had just gone for a walk. _"You know when people talk about square pegs and round holes?"_ she had wondered aloud as they wandered down a well-lit boulevard. _"I feel like the square peg."_

He took a breath and spared her a look, pulled back to the present by another insistent poke. "I notice you," he said finally.

Whatever she had been expecting it certainly hadn't been that. Her eyes were wide were surprise as the words soaked in and then she looked away, her brows furrowing slightly as she anxiously thumbed her skirt hem. Then: "Tea!"

She practically shouted the word, as if she had just discovered the meaning of life, and then shot to her feet so quickly that it startled a laugh out of Kakashi. It wasn't bad timing. Laughing at her antics was way better than feeling like an awkward teen-aged boy who had just confessed to the prettiest girl in class that he liked her only to be met with absolute silence.

Kakashi let out a quiet sigh as she retreated to the kitchenette, her footsteps the only sound in the now dead-quiet apartment. He reached out to the nearest stack. They had spent the better part of the last week organizing every book by letter into piles and then alphabetizing them individually before putting them away. Sakura's system, of course. He wouldn't have known where to begin.

He stiffened suddenly when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder and he tipped his head back to look up at Sakura. Her other hand found his cheek and, without a word, she ducked down and pressed a kiss to his forehead. The angle was awkward with the tip of her nose brushing against the bridge of his, but it sent an unfamiliar and _wonderful_ bolt of warmth through him. She pulled back and her eyes sparkled as she smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

Sakura entered her apartment and kicked her door shut, her movements stiff, mechanical, and tired. But she couldn't say she was in a bad mood. Dates were at least _fun_ now. Kakashi had made a few suggestions in the way of get-away excuses and the various reactions they received were ridiculously entertaining. She particularly enjoyed the one that involved squirming around uncomfortably in her seat and then mentioning a strange and worrying itch.

She dropped her keys into the bowl on the countertop and slipped off her sandals. Her shawl was draped carelessly over the back of a chair and then with a heavy, weary sigh she threw herself into her bed and lifted her cell phone up to eye-level.

Ino was becoming particularly merciless in her questioning about Sakura's new "boss" (the air quotes and oft-accompanying hip thrusts belonging to Ino, not Sakura). She was insistent that they were just friends, because they were. Maybe. Except for that whole make-up dating thing, but they weren't really date-dates. Or that's what she kept telling herself.

_"Yo."_

"Hey." She frowned when she heard the faint scratching of a pen in the background. "Am I bothering you?"

_"Never."_ A pause. _"It's only eight. Your date a dud?"_

"A double-dud with a cherry on top."

_"Sorry to hear that. Can I make a suggestion?"_

"Shoot."

_"This friend that keeps setting you up on these things?"_

"Yeah."

_"Dump her."_

For the first time that night since seeing her date at the restaurant as he sat at the bar holding a compact mirror and combing his hair (the point at which she realized that that strange and worrying itch was soon to be upon her again), she smiled. "I've known her for forever."

_"Yeah? I've known Gai and Obito for forever and you see that I manage to keep them at bay."_

"Well, Ino and I were, like, fetuses together so dumping her isn't an option."

_"It's always an option. By the way, thanks for the mental image."_

Sakura laughed. "Not a problem. So, how was the rest of your day?"

_"Productive, actually. I'm about half-way done with this chapter."_

"Really? Oh, that's great, Kakashi. Jiraiya will be totally thrilled to hear it."

_"With any luck."_

The faint scratching of his pen and the even whisper of breath against the receiver was the only noise made for a while as Sakura sat up and wriggled out of her dress, juggling her phone. Her bra went next (sensible, white, and totally not sexy) followed by her panties (white, cotton, boxers that would have had Ino wailing about limiting the potential of a date before it even started). She just wanted to change _everything_ and be done with the whole, horrible night.

_"So what was the guy like?"_

Sakura gave this a moment's pause as she pulled out a clean sports bra and, out of sheer defiance and maybe a bit of vindictiveness, a pair of zebra-striped bikini briefs. Ino could take her panty protocol and shove it. "His eyebrows were more perfectly sculpted than mine, for one."

_"Wow."_

"He had a manicure."

_"Ouch."_

"And he spent most of the night checking his reflection in the mirror over the bar."

Kakashi laughed at this, loud and clearly. It was as close to a belly laugh as the passive, reserved man would ever allow and it made her smile uncontrollably. _"Where does your friend get these guys?"_

Sakura shook her head. "Beats me." She juggled the phone some more as she slipped into her undergarments and then shuffled into a pair of loose, gray sweats. "I just know that I want to go to sleep, wake up, and not remember him or tonight."

_"Mah, not a bad idea."_ A pause and then silence not even broken by pen scratching. _"Uh, Sakura?"_

"Hm?"

_"Speaking of horrible dates… I was wondering… well..."_

She furrowed her brows a little even as she had to stifle a laugh. "What's wrong?"

He sighed, the receiver crackling as he did so. _"A couple friends of mine invited me to a dinner thing and if I show up by myself I'll be fielding 'you _always_ come alone' conversations all night. If I bring you, that's an invalid argument from the start. I'll owe you."_

"Oh." Sakura paused, frowning a little and wondering why the idea made her stomach lurch.

_"Or I can suffer through if you'd rather not."_

"No, no… I'll go. It'll be a nice change a pace from getting kicked out of every twenty-four hour business in the city. When is it?"

_"Don't know. I'll check with them tomorrow. Don't worry; you'll have time to back out."_

She scoffed at him. "Kakashi, you know that I'm not one to back-out of anything. I'm still working for you, aren't I?"

_"Funny."_ There was another pause and then he cleared his throat. _"So, there's this bookstore downtown that stays open until midnight and I get free coffee there…"_

"I'll be ready by time you get here."

* * *

"So these must be some good friends of yours. You're dressed!" Sakura grinned as she reached out to straighten Kakashi's collar.

He rolled his eyes. "You've seen me dressed."

"I know, but you're like dressed up. Are those pants new?"

"No, I just never wear them. Would you stop fussing?"

Sakura couldn't and judging by the grin that Kakashi was trying to hide, he didn't particularly want her to. Giving him another once-over, she tugged at his collar. He looked nice in black. Like, _really_ nice. She plucked a bit of lint off of his shoulder and then smoothed the fabric out gently with her palm before meeting his eyes again.

"Are you quite finished grooming me?" he wondered.

"Yes." She paused and gave him another once-over. "You look good."

He shook his head, the same faint grin pulling at his lips. "So do you." He reached out and gently brushed her hair back over her shoulder.

Sakura smiled at him and self-consciously smoothed her skirt. The dress was one of her older ones, more conservative than she typically wore, but it seemed more appropriate somehow and… well, it made her look older. A little. Maybe. She hoped so. Honestly, the age difference didn't bother her—he was her friend and just her friend, after all—and Kakashi hardly seemed to notice, but what would his friends think? He probably didn't care, but it nagged her anyway.

It was that aspect of the whole thing that really boggled her mind. It was just strange, after almost two months of knowing him now, to think of Kakashi as having a social life. He was so reclusive. "So, anything I should know about your friends?" she asked.

"Well… I've been friends with Kurenai and Asuma for… hell, a long time. Probably longer than they'd probably care to admit. Their spawn is named Asuka and Kurenai is about eight months pregnant with their second."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Spawn?"

"That's the technical term isn't it?"

She laughed despite herself.

She was surprised that she wasn't particularly nervous about the party. No, she wasn't looking forward to it. Parties were awkward enough without them being parties full of strangers, but she knew that should the time come when she would need Kakashi to suffer through something similar, this would be worth it. Besides, she had experience with this. It wasn't all that rare of an occurrence for Ino to tart her up and then drag her out somewhere. The nightclubs that they frequented—ones that she often fought her way out of by wielding her purse as a melee weapon—provided excellent training in the way of tolerating numbers of unfamiliar people. This would be a cakewalk by comparison.

"Thanks for coming with me, Sakura."

She looked to him and nodded. "Any time, but keep in mind that you will be repaying the favor in the future."

"Deal," he replied. Then, with a sideways glanced he asked, "How pathetic is it that I have to ask my housekeeper to be my stand-in date?"

She shrugged. "Well, I have more fun with you than I've ever had on any real date I've been on. Is that pathetic?"

Kakashi smiled faintly. "So, we're about even?"

"I'd say so."

* * *

The Sarutobi family lived across the city in one of the nicest houses Sakura had ever seen and, upon being introduced, she realized that they were some of the absolutely last people Sakura expected to be friends with a porn writer. Obito and Gai at least had their quirks. They were just as offbeat as Kakashi with Obito being the black sheep of his family and Gai being… well, Gai. Asuma and Kurenai, on the other hand, were perfectly normal. He was in business (Kakashi claimed it too boring to remember) and she was an assistant professor at a university (just as boring, but easier to remember).

And because Sakura would sooner discover she was the descendant of royalty than succeed in keeping her mouth shut, she ended up saying this out loud. However, it served to break the ice and get them through the front door with minimal awkwardness.

After taking one look at the small gathering and losing her nerve, Sakura decided that she would lash herself to Kakashi's side and just do her best to blend in. It worked spectacularly for all of five seconds and then the cherub-faced, curly-haired Asuka appeared from thin air, seized Kakashi by his hand, and dragged him off to what Sakura vehemently hoped was a very embarrassing tea party complete with hats and stuffed animals in dresses because now she was on her own.

She hovered awkwardly on the fringes of the party for some time until Kurenai seized her by the arm on her way to the kitchen to check on the food and invited her to help. Sakura nearly debased herself in gratitude to the woman.

To her relief, she managed to pass the whole party by that way. Kurenai was fun and interesting and the only people she was directly introduced to were the few who wandered into the kitchen to offer their assistance. When they sat down to eat, she found a spot next to Kakashi that he had saved for her (which didn't save _him_ from a smack upside the head) and they spent the time in between bites of food talking and entertaining Asuka, who Sakura won points with automatically because of her hair color.

"Sakura-chan, you really don't have to do this."

Sakura smiled as she dumped an armful of dishes into the sink. "Kurenai, you look like you could have that baby any second," she replied. The house was quiet now except for the chatter of the few remaining guests drifting in from the living room. "I'm more than happy to help out."

"Well, it's very sweet of you." The woman hovered close by, obviously trying to decide where exactly to insinuate hreself. "After all day of cleaning up after Kakashi, I'd think you would be sick of it."

"Hey, _you_ have a dishwasher so half of my work is done already." Sakura offered her a smile over her shoulder. "Go ahead and get off your feet for a little bit. I have this."

Kurenai nodded and eased herself cautiously onto a stool at the end of the counter, one hand resting over her protruding belly. She was the kind of pregnant Sakura wanted to be if she ever had kids. Her skin had that pretty, pregnant glow and from behind, even at eight months, her condition wasn't at all apparent. "So," she began slowly. "How is it working for Kakashi?"

Sakura shrugged, shaking her head to toss her hair back over her shoulder as she scraped some food off a plate into the garbage disposal. "I've honestly had worse babysitting assignments."

Kurenai laughed but Sakura sensed something else behind it as the woman gave her an appraising look. "I hope he's been behaving himself."

"Well, yeah. You can't get up to much when you never leave your apartment."

"I meant where it concerns you. He's been a gentleman hasn't he?"

Something about her tone implied that the consequences would be dire if Sakura's answer was 'no' and she found herself rather grateful for that. It made her feel rather like they had been friends for years. (Though it was clear that any future boyfriend of Asuka's would have to watch their back.) "He's been a perfect gentleman. I mean… okay, he stares sometimes but I know bigger perverts so it doesn't bother me. That and he's not being a creep about it." She shrugged and reached over to pull open the dish washer and place the first dish on the top rack. "He's a good guy."

The woman nodded. "I know."

Sakura scraped a dish slowly and then looked back at Kurenai. "Did you want to say something?"

Kurenai hummed softly in response and then drew her eyes up to Sakura's, her head tipped slightly to one side in a curious, questioning manner. "I've been friends with Kakashi for a long time. Asuma and I both have. So, I care about him—heaven help me—and I worry sometimes that he's _too_ closed off; that he's succeeded too well in secluding himself."

"Well, he definitely gets an 'A' for effort in that regard."

Kurenai smiled and nodded. "When Asuma told me about you at first, I was a little worried about… well, about a lot of things. Maybe I don't give him enough credit, but I tend to assume that Kakashi will do something reckless whenever he's placed in the situation to do so and with you being so young…" She shrugged, rubbing her stomach thoughtfully as she turned her gaze to the ceiling. "In retrospect, I realize that I wasn't giving _either_ of you much credit."

Sakura shrugged. "You didn't know me. I have a friend who would have jumped him on their first meeting if I hadn't been around. "

The woman laughed aloud at this. "Yes, well… I'm glad now that everything has worked out like it has. I think you're good for him."

For a moment, the words seemed to echo in Sakura's ears and she looked nervously down at her hands. _Good for him_. She looked to Kurenai again and nervously swept an errant lock of hair behind her ear.

Kurenai went on without any prompting. "He's different with you," she said. "I know that Kakashi is content with his life the way it is, but I've always thought that to be out of… complacency; that Kakashi goes along with everything because changing it would require too much effort. But with you? He seems genuinely _happy_. In fact, when I saw you two together during dinner I found myself trying to remember the last time I saw him smile so much… and I couldn't."

Sakura fumbled for something to say as she turned back to the dishes. A part of her had been expecting some sort of warning to not get in too deep with Kakashi, either for her sake or his. Instead, she got this and… and she wasn't exactly sure what to do with it. What if there was really something there? Did that thrill r or scare her? Kakashi was quickly becoming one of her best friends, but could they be more than that? Kurenai seemed to think so, but _smiling_ hardly seemed a good indicator of that sort of thing. Not to mention that Sakura had no idea what her own feelings for the man were.

Well, that wasn't exactly true.

The attraction was absolutely there. No one could deny that Kakashi was a good looking guy, least of all her, but no healthy relationship could be based only off of that. And, unfortunately, she doubted her ability to have a healthy relationship. She couldn't even make it through a date.

Out of mercy, Kurenai began to talk about her work at the college and how well Asuka was taking to classic literature, but it did nothing to distract Sakura even as she managed to return the conversation.

Some time later and with her thoughts still a jumbled mess, Sakura was shooed away from the sink and out of the kitchen once the dishes were finished, Kurenai encouraging her to go round up her date so that they could get going. It was getting late and they lived on the other side of the city, after all. Great, she hadn't even been thinking about that. The trip home would be a monumentally awkward one once Kakashi inevitably noticed that something was off.

But, she didn't argue.

Sakura checked the living room quickly and then wandered upstairs at Asuma's direction (or rather Asuma's grunt and handwave—he was playing shogi with the pony-tailed boy she had been passing off and receiving Asuka from all night, like a bizarre game of hot potato). She admired the framed family pictures hanging on the wall all the way up the stairs and paused at the top when she heard voices.

"Which shade? This one or this one?"

"The first one."

Sakura drew closer to the slightly ajar door and smiled as she peered inside. Kakashi was sitting cross-legged on the floorboards, looking absolutely out of place in the room with the sunny yellow walls and white furniture. Asuka was in his lap and he had one arm around her middle as he hunched forward over a piece of paper (one of many littering the floor, some of them drawn on and others still blank) with a crayon in hand.

She stifled her laughter in her palm, but not quickly enough as the sound reached the pair and they looked to her. Asuka smiled and immediately launched herself from Kakashi's lap at the girl, pulling the door open wider in order to pull Sakura inside. "We're drawing something for you, but you can't look yet!" she said excitedly. "It's not done."

Kakashi simply held up a single finger in a 'one minute' gesture as he colored, absorbed in whatever the something was. "We'll get going after this."

Sakura nodded and allowed herself to be led over to the bed where Asuka introduced her to every stuffed animal piled against the headboard. She smiled and humored the little girl even as she kept an eye on Kakashi.

He had reacted to Asuka's attentions (apparently him being her favorite person of all) with eye-rolling and exasperation, but it seemed that that had been an act. She smiled a little to herself and averted her eyes to the ceiling when Asuka shrieked that she was peeking at her present before it was done. So, he was good with children. There was something intriguing and adorable about that.

"Done."

Asuka cheered and took the page quickly from him. She thrust it out to Sakura, happily beaming as she took all of the credit: "Here, I drew this! It's you!"

Sakura smiled, but it faded slightly as she accepted the page. It was her. A prettier, more feminine her. A her with perfect hair and an elegant, svelte figure rather than her boyish, gangly frame. She stared at the details, admiring the carefully drawn lines and the particular attention paid to all of the small things and then stared at Kakashi, not knowing what to say.

He smiled back. "She did a good job, don't you think?"

She agreed numbly with an answering smile, now more confused than she had been in the kitchen and desperately trying to force her heart from her throat.

* * *

1. Do you need a nap now? A rest? That was over 7,000 words (it's too bad it wasn't OVER 9,000! ... Sorry). Thanks so much for reading guys!

2. I maintain that Jiraiya probably wasn't blushing. Sakura was just being a pain. (Yes, Jiraiya's involvement is more or less pointless here, but I needed some way of starting the chapter.)

3. I think I'm going to have to write a fic about Ino one of these eons in order to pay penance for what I do to her in these fics. I do have good reasons, mind you, and the shallow, 2D blond is on purpose, but I feel I'd need a fic to explain myself. Hm. Another project for another day.

4. Hope you liked Obito. I really didn't know what to do with him other than make him as much Kakashi's total opposite as possible. (tips head) I might have also made him a bit of a flirt and that was totally on accident. Hm. Oh well.

5. GAI! I hold that the Dynamic Entry is just SO awesome he can get away with it in either universe. Oh and Doily, thanks for the "Richard Simmons" suggestions. My friend and I laughed our asses off at the thought for a good while. You're the best.

7. I know the dinner party scene is SHORT. I know that I don't actually ever GO to the dinner party. But here's the thing: it would have been boring. No, don't tell me it would have been awesome. It would have been boring. Unless someone decides to act like a tit, dinner parties are just BORING and there's no way around it.

8. But we do get confused, mixed-up Sakura and there shall be much pondering done on how to end this in one chapter ... er, I mean, I TOTALLY know how to end this in one chapter. ... Yeah.

9. Okay, yeah. I hate this chapter kinda. I'm not happy with it but I like the individual components? I don't know. I don't feel like it's as good as the first, but then I also feel like it's kind of the same? Whatevs.

**(All right, whew! That was a long one guys. Let me know what you think. Drop a review and I'll do my best to get the next chapter out ASAP!)**


	3. Strings

**Blithe Spirits**

**Part 3  
**

**Note:** Oh my GOD an update! You are not dreaming, do not adjust your computer monitors, this is an actual update. Explanation for this insanity at the bottom!

* * *

Sakura paused at the entrance of the dressing room and scowled at Kakashi, who was sitting on a leather sofa with a pink, satin sash wrapped around his neck and the ends drawn up in the air in his right hand, as if he were attempting to hang himself right there. She lifted her foot, pulled off one sparkling ballet slipper, and then threw it at him.

"You're not funny," she scolded, even though she was smiling. "I told you to leave half an hour ago. You just stayed to be a butthead."

"Butthead?" he asked with a laugh, dropping the sash abruptly so it settled around his neck like a scarf. "I haven't been called that since school." He cocked his head at her. "I don't like that one."

Sakura sighed and plucked at the skirt of the dress she had on. "I don't either," she muttered. The cut made her look like a ten-year-old boy and the pastel yellow of the fabric was too young; she had a hard time convincing people she was out of high school as it was. "I'm not even crazy about the shoes."

Kakashi inspected the flat that had bounced harmlessly off the side of his skull and landed on the couch beside him. "Try the green one I picked," he said, throwing it back to her. "With the heels you had on before."

She caught the shoe deftly and frowned as she turned it over in her hands. "So… how do you know so much about women's clothes?"

He lolled his head back against the arm of the couch to look up the skirt of nearby mannequin. "Because I'm very, very gay."

She laughed and a wry grin tugged at his lips. "I'm serious."

"Sakura, I draw women all the time. I need to put them in something… well, sometimes."

"Oh, so this is from a perv point of view?"

"Connoisseur," he corrected. He rolled his head to the side and lifted a hand to check his watch. "C'mon, just try on that last one and let's go. I'm starved."

* * *

"Quit giving me that look."

"C'mon, tell me who did a good job."

Sakura rolled her eyes and bumped her shoulder into Kakashi's gently, the two of them walking a crowded street to a restaurant they had discovered a few weeks previously. He had a dress bag slung back over his shoulder as he carried another bag in his free hand. "You're being childish. I can't believe you're in your thirties," she said.

He grinned and nudged her. "You just don't want to say anything because if you had just tried on the dress I picked out we wouldn't have been there for three hours." He glanced over at her. "At least tell me where you're going to wear this."

Sakura smiled. "What says I'm going to tell you?"

He gave her a hard look and she replied by crossing her eyes and sticking her tongue out at him, earning a laugh. "Are you going on some secret mission to a fancy party?" he wondered

"That at least sounds fun," she snorted. "My grandmother is a professor at the university and there's some sort of charity dinner party thing in a few weeks and she's roped me into going with her."

Kakashi blinked. "Your grandmother's a professor?"

"Well, she's a doctor turned professor. I never mentioned that?"

"Uh, no." Kakashi shook his head and cleared his throat. "But that's good. I was worried you were putting that kind of effort into another one of those dates of yours."

Sakura reached out to shove him away from her and he laughed as he dodged out of her reach. He opened his mouth to retort, but closed it sharply and darted toward a storefront window with speed Sakura wouldn't have credited him with. Then she saw what kind of store it was and oh didn't _that_ just figure? "Kakashi," she whined, stomping over to him. "I thought you were starving? You can come back to your dirty little store some other time. Like when I'm not with you."

"Hey now," he pouted. "I sat through you trying on all of those ridiculous dresses. And it's just _books_. Nothing else."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll wait out here, but if I have to come in there after you _no_ one will be happy."

He grinned at her (sending her heart careening into her ribs) and then vanished beyond the doors, leaving her holding her bags.

Forcing out a sigh, Sakura made her way to the nearest bench and plopped down. She laid her bags beside her and then reached into her purse to withdraw her cell phone, which she flipped open to begin a text message to Jiraiya about how much she hated him and her job and why did she know so many people in the 'adult entertainment' industry anyway?

It didn't surprise her in the least when she received a text in response not a few moments later: _I still need a secretary._

She replied while rolling her eyes: _Thanks for perspective._

Sakura settled back to text Ino then and was startled out of the mindless, button-pushing reverie some twenty minutes later when a whole group of feet walked passed… and one pair remained.

"_Hey_."

It was a tone Sakura was familiar with; greasy like the one her neighbor used whenever he was trying to win her over—although he deserved a little credit because he was at least kind of charming when he tried. Reflexively she ignored it (and the urge to deck him) and continued texting.

A foot forcefully nudged the edge of the seat to her right. "Hey, I'm talking to you."

She glanced to her right, spotting a group of boys—high schoolers—standing not thirty feet away and watching with stupid grins on their faces. Okay, _now_ she wanted to deck the guy just to embarrass him. "And I'm ignoring you," she replied. "What's that tell you?"

There was a disbelieving scoff and Sakura jumped when her phone was suddenly snatched out of her hands. She looked up sharply and narrowed her eyes at the dark ones staring down at her. "It tells me you're rude," he replied coolly.

Sakura clenched her jaw and was just about ready to jump to her feet when a hand suddenly stole her phone away from the original thief and she looked up to see that it was a Kakashi, wearing a rather bored expression. "She was trying to be polite," he said calmly. "On the other hand, that doesn't matter to me, so fuck off."

"What's your problem, old man?" the kid (because that's the only acknowledgement he deserved) demanded. "Get the hell out of here. We're talking."

Kakashi regarded him coolly for a second and then leaned to look at Sakura. "You okay?" he wondered.

The kid's cheeks reddened a little at this as he took a step forward. "I said—"

Sakura watched as Kakashi moved forward as well, as if to meet the challenge, and then casually and smoothly ducked down and pulled the kid's pants to his ankles. The kid tried to move out of the way but that only aided Kakashi's effort and the boy ended face-first on the sidewalk.

Sakura blinked, surprised at first by what had just happened. The next moment, however, she burst into laughter, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle herself. She heard the other boys laughing as well as Kakashi picked up one of her bags in one hand and the offered the other to her. She grabbed on, her other bag in her free hand, and let him pull her to her feet. "You okay?" he asked again.

Sakura nodded and squeezed his hand tightly in reply.

Kakashi smiled back as he slung her dress bag over his shoulder again and when they passed the group of boys, he acknowledged them only long enough to shoot them a warning look.

"You're crazy," she said with a glance back over her shoulder once they were a safe distance down the street.

"I heard that a lot of geniuses get that." He grinned at her exasperated eye-roll and shrugged. "Blame Obito."

"Why?"

"No specific reason. It's just what I always do."

* * *

Kakashi was in trouble. He knew that much with absolute certainty.

He took a breath as he admired his spotless apartment. Sakura had to leave early to have dinner with her grandmother, but promised to be back with take-out for him.

It wasn't lust or loneliness or anything he could readily dismiss because she was beautiful, because he had met dozens of beautiful women, many of whom had thrown their selves at him. It wasn't just because she was _there_ either because he _liked_ being alone.

He just didn't want to be so much anymore.

A tiny flame of hope ignited in him when she revealed that she didn't have a date for that night or any one planned in the future. "I told Ino that I'm done with all of that for a while," she had explained. "Besides, if there's someone out there for me, I'll eventually find him."

In any book—in _his_ books—that would have been the cue for the hero to say something suave and smooth, to assure her that maybe the man she was looking for was right under her nose, or right across the room. But those were books and this was reality where he was too old for her and clearly out of his mind, among other things.

"Wow."

Kakashi had a pencil in one hand and his forehead resting in the other. Obito was leaning over his desk.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, quietly cursing how much his work absorbed him and Obito's skills with a lock pick.

"Just checkin' on you," Obito replied, his eyes still transfixed on the drawing until Kakashi covered it with his hand. "That's… that was a really good one." He coughed, awkwardly. "I mean… wow. I didn't know you looked at her—at any woman like that."

"Don't tell her," Kakashi muttered.

The Uchiha's eyebrows lifted. "Why not? I think she'd be flattered. Most women would."

Kakashi pulled his hand away long enough to look at the drawing again. Sakura had wandered into his apartment the other day wearing a pair of ragged cut-offs and a straw hat with a frayed edge and she had been just so damn picturesque. Weakened by boredom, he gave in to the nagging temptation to draw her and to his disgust he was getting better at drawing the strong, angular shape of her shoulders in contrast to her narrow hips and waist. It was starting to look like Sakura, rather than some fantasy.

"You love her?"

He scoffed and dropped his pencil in favor of cradling his head in both hands. "I haven't known her that long."

"But you're crazy about her?"

Kakashi made a small noise in the back of his throat and then followed this with a louder, hopeless groan. "What's wrong with me?"

Obito smiled a little. He was standing with his back to the desk, resting his weight lightly against it with his arms folded and his eyes focused on the floor, a distant look taking them. "Nothin'. It just happens like that sometimes. You just get blind-sided and…" He trailed off, rubbing at the back of his head. "I don't blame you. She's beautiful."

"Yeah. And _young_." He shot his friend a meaningful look.

"Older men date younger women all the time," Obito replied. Then he snorted and added, "Older men than you date younger girls than her all the time." He glanced at his friend. "That really isn't the problem though, is it?"

Kakashi pushed himself out of his chair, crossing his apartment to the kitchen, which still sparkled from its latest scrubbing. He carried with him a stack of dishes and when he reached the kitchenette, he tipped them into the sink.

Obito persisted. "Tell her."

"It's not that easy."

"Yes, it _is_," he argued. "What's stopping you?"

Kakashi smashed a palm to his forehead as he let his weight sink back against the cupboard behind him. "Obito, look at me."

"Fine, you're not much to look at, but she doesn't seem to—"

"I didn't mean like _that_."

Obito raised an eyebrow at his friend and then sighed and crossed his arms. "Is this about your job?"

"You don't think that's a problem?"

The Uchiha shrugged. "No, I don't," he said. "She's your friend—shut up, she is—so it doesn't seem like she cares much either. Besides, if she's in any way related to Jiraiya you know that's just a poor excuse." His paused and then his eyes suddenly narrowed. "Ah, I know what this really is."

Kakashi scrubbed his face with both hands. "What is it?"

"It's that thing you do."

"I do not have a thing."

"Yeah, you do. It's that thing where you push away people who get too close to ya. You tried it on Gai and me for _years_."

"I think that reflects more poorly on you two than me." Kakashi skimmed a hand over the counter top. "Look, it's nothing serious, Obito. It's just… a crush. We spend a lot of time together, she's pretty, I'm an old pervert—it's going to happen. But this isn't something I want to screw up, so just let it go."

Obito turned to watch his friend as the man returned to his desk. "You know the worst part about being your friend sometimes, Kakashi?" he asked suddenly, his tone subdued but his words piercing the apartment anyway. "It's knowing how miserable you really are. And worse than that? Knowing how content you are with it. I mean, forget falling in love and taking a risk that could make life, ya know, worth living. Nah, keep everyone at arm's length. I mean, you wouldn't want to be happy or anything like that. God forbid."

Kakashi sat with his back purposefully to the Uchiha, one hand cradling his forehead as he reached for his pencil again. "Cut me some slack," he muttered. "I'm just trying to keep my head above water."

Obito stared at him for a long time and then looked away. "You'll probably want to hit me for this," he began carefully, his hands digging into his pockets as he squared his shoulders and visibly braced himself, "But I knew your old man. He wouldn't want this for you. I mean, if you're right about—"

Pain and anger in equal measure shot into Kakashi's system and he turned sharply to face his friend and stood, nearly knocking his chair over. But punching his friend was delayed when his eyes instantly met a pair of startled green eyes watching from the apartment door.

Obito frowned and turned, his own eyes widening at the sight of Sakura, who was glancing back and forth between the pair of them uneasily.

Kakashi glowered at Obito when their eyes met again and his friend's shoulders sank considerably. "I should get going," he muttered.

Sakura frowned as Obito squeezed her shoulder as he passed her on the way out the door, which he then closed behind him.

Kakashi didn't say anything to Sakura before he hunkered down at his desk with a dark storm cloud churning over his head. This might have left her a little miffed if she were a complete idiot.

Obito's words hadn't escaped her and neither had Kakashi's reaction to them. She glanced over at the man.

She had wondered, more than once, about his situation. Why was he so alone? Why did he lock himself away in this apartment? She knew he had friends, but did he have family, or anyone he loved at all? What had happened to them?

It occurred to her, a little too late she realized, that she didn't really know anything about the man that she was falling for.

Which was something that she wasn't going to think about. The last thing she needed to do was start getting all stupid about her handsome boss—or client or whatever their working relationship really was—and risk losing her very well-paying job and the very comfortable friendship they had.

"You should eat."

The furious scratching of Kakashi's pen paused as she laid a plate of food down on his desk near his elbow. He had his forehead cradled in his free hand and even though she was standing barely two feet from him, he didn't look at her.

"I know you. You probably haven't had anything since lunch," she went on. "I think Jiraiya wants me to take care of you as much as your apartment, so…" She trailed off and shrugged. "I'm going to clean the bathroom and continue sorting the books. Let me know if you need anything."

Kakashi didn't move or say or do anything and she was equal parts concerned by this and weirdly content as she turned away. She wanted to ask—oh, how badly she wanted to ask—but she just couldn't. Judging by the look he had given Obito, someone he had known for years, she didn't suspect that her inquiries would go over half so well. And yet, the curiosity still nagged her. What did Obito mean with that reference to Kakashi's father?

Sakura shook her head and did her best to push the thought from her mind. It didn't matter, she told herself. It didn't matter.

* * *

"How's it going?"

Sakura looked up quickly and couldn't stop the smile from blooming across her lips at the sight of Kakashi awkwardly standing over her, his hands in his pockets and obviously not sure how to break the silence that had been reigning over them all evening. "Pretty good," she replied. "Although I'm still not sure if I should be amused or appalled that one man owns this much smut."

He rolled his eyes and but smiled for the first time that night and took a seat beside her. "What letter are we on?"

"'S' actually," she replied and from the corner of her eye she saw him almost blanch when she lifted one volume of Strings from the pile.

To her surprise, it looked pretty innocuous. The girl on the cover was maybe a bit chesty, but her pose was demure and she was accompanied by a large cast of other characters who all varied greatly in appearance and, in the case of the female characters, chest sizes. The drawing was really pretty—everything he drew was really, she almost envied him for it—and the colors were pastel and muted. To an almost disturbing extent, this looked like something that she might pick up at the bookstore.

"Can I borrow this?"

The question came out before she could stop herself and it occurred to her right then that that curiosity of hers would not be so easily stemmed.

She liked this man and she found that she genuinely wanted to get to know him more than she did already. As an added bonus, a little taste of his art would offer her a look into his mind and help her decide if she wanted to pursue her interest any further.

"After scolding me and everything?" he teased.

Sakura shrugged. "Call it curiosity. I mean, I'm working for you so I might as well."

"Oh. Well, then actually…" Kakashi reached around her to another stack, one hand coming down on her knee to balance himself as he searched with the other. A moment later, he drew out a different book and offered it out. "Start with this one. It's, uh, a little less…" He spared her a critical, uneasy look. "I mean, you remember _what_ I write, don't you?"

Sakura shot him a bland look. "Are there a lot of ball-gags and toys and tentacles involved?"

Kakashi's cheeks flared pink in response—something that was definitely going down on her calendar when she got home. "No!" He sounded almost mortified. "It's nothing kinky like that—okay, there's probably one scene that's iffy, but it isn't—"

She plucked the book out of his hands and smiled. "Then I think I'll live. My grandmother's version of sex education was probably more horrifying. It involved diagrams—a lot of diagrams. Besides, you don't grow up with a super pervert like Jiraiya without learning a thing or two ahead of your time." She paused as she examined the cover of this book and then she smiled. "Have I told you how much I like your art style?"

He shifted. "No, I don't think so."

Sakura looked to him and smiled wider. "Well, I do. Who did you learn from?"

Kakashi shifted his weight again, looking uncomfortable. "No one really, but my dad enrolled me in a few art classes when I was a kid."

"Oh." She felt the color leave her face. "That's nice. I always wanted to learn to draw or play piano or sing or something, but I'm not very artistic. No one in my family really is, so maybe it's their fault. I mean, it's not like they discouraged it, but Mom's a nurse and Grandma's a surgeon so I think they kind of expected me to—" She stop short and clapped her mouth shut immediately as she shot him an apologetic glance. "Sorry. Rambling."

For several moments, neither of them spoke. Kakashi arranged and rearranged his long limbs as Sakura traced her thumbs up and then down the spine of the book she held. It was awkward, but curiously it wasn't really uncomfortable in the strictest sense. For Sakura, it just felt like one of those moments where they both understood what needed to be said but neither of them had any idea as to how to go about it. It was a first, but she wished that she were Ino for just a second. The blond was not what one would call tactful, but her ability to plunge headfirst into an exceedingly awkward conversation without batting an eyelash would be handy.

After a while, it was Kakashi who finally broke the silence, his voice very low and quiet as he very tentatively asked, "How much did you hear earlier?"

Sakura pushed a lock of hair anxiously behind her ear. "Not a lot," she replied. "Just… most of what Obito said about being your friend and then when he mentioned your dad."

Kakashi nodded and said nothing.

She sat there with him until she couldn't stand it anymore and gave up. "I should probably go, I guess," she murmured. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He nodded again and then picked himself up off the floor. "I'll walk with you. Give me a second."

* * *

They got off the bus four blocks from Sakura's building and walked the rest of the way together, her hands tucked in the pockets of her jacket.

Her mind buzzed anxiously. She needed to say something—do something—to ease this tension between them before it drove her crazy. And there was no doubt in her mind that it had everything to do with what Obito had said and what was implied by what he said. Given his overall demeanor, she supposed that she wasn't surprised to know that Kakashi's past was an unhappy one, but it seemed that there was also something there that was darker than she had expected.

She glanced up at him.

Kakashi was a very, very private person—what else did you call someone who lived like he did? And it made sense that he was uncomfortable with what she overheard and with the prospect of having to explain it (because no matter what she said, it would always be an enormous, looming elephant in his very cramped apartment).

"I've lived here all my life," she spoke up suddenly, earning a very strange, sideways look from Kakashi. She smiled in an attempt to reassure him and pressed on, "My mom and dad both grew up here, just on opposite sides of the city. They ended up working at the same hospital—he was a doctor—and they hit it off."

"That kind of runs in your family, huh?"

Sakura smiled. "It seems that way, doesn't it?"

He nodded and shot another glance her way. "So… past tense?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah. He died when I was ten; a car accident. My mom tried, but she just couldn't take it and ended up leaving the city. The memories were just too much for her."

"Why didn't you go with her?"

"She wanted me to," Sakura replied, shrugging, "but Grandma called her crazy. She didn't think that there was a point in uprooting me any more than his death already had—I mean, I had friends and I was in a really good school and everything. So I started living with her. I think Grandma figured that eventually Mom would come back and we could just move on. Instead Mom remarried."

Kakashi frowned as he stared straight ahead at the sidewalk. "Do you ever see her?"

"Sometimes."

They walked a little farther in quiet as this all sank in and Sakura searched for what else to say to fill the quiet. After all, she didn't have anything to hide. Not from him, at least.

"Most of my family isn't even really related to me," she pressed on. "Ino's family pretty much adopted me when we became friends and I've spent most of my vacations with them, Jiraiya thinks of himself as my godfather, and I do have another surrogate uncle, but he would make your skin crawl. Naruto, he's Jiraiya's actual godson, is like the brother I never had and his family is incredible too. He and his mom used to walk me home from school when I was really young." She glanced up at him. "I'm sorry. I'm kind of rambling again."

"It's all right, but why are you telling me this?"

Sakura shrugged. "I guess I just wanted you to know that it's okay." She looked up to meet his confused expression. "You don't have to explain anything to me, I don't expect that, but Obito made it sound bad—the situation with your father, I mean—and you've been acting really weird since then and I just want you to know that whatever it is, it wouldn't bother me. Not enough to change my opinion of you or anything, I mean." She sighed and lifted her hands to tuck some hair behind her ears. "Well, what I'm trying to say is that my life hasn't been exactly conventional and that I think of you as a friend and I don't want you to think that I'll just disappear on you because of… whatever."

Kakashi was at a loss for words and was thus quiet for almost two blocks. The combination of her sincerity and honesty and his own desire to confide in her had completely stripped him of his ability to speak.

The last people he had told about his father were Obito and Gai and that was only because they had been there when he got the news. It had been one of the only times he had been grateful for one of Gai's manly hugs, if only because he had found himself unable to stand on his own feet and Gai made for something convenient to lean on as he cried.

Now he wanted to tell Sakura about his father and that baffled him. It felt right, like it was just one part of the natural progression of things, but he had never felt that impulse before in his life. Sure, they were close. After only a few months, he felt closer to her than he did most people he had since he was kid and the fact that she was willing to confide in him if only to make things feel even, seemed to indicate that she felt the same way.

So for the rest of the walk to her place he struggled to find the right words; not wanting to sugarcoat things, but knowing that it had to be said with some degree of finesse.

A combination of regret and relief washed over him when they ended up in front of her building and he was still tongue-tied.

"Well, this is me," she said, her eyes carefully fixed on the ground. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Kakashi nodded mutely, frantically searching for _something_ to say. He watched her turn away and, briefly panicking, he grabbed her wrist. Sakura started at this and turned to look at him, her brows lifted. "Thank you," he blurted suddenly and then just barely resisted the urge to smack himself because what the hell kind of reply was that?

"What?" she asked.

He shrugged, awkwardly shifting his weight from one foot to the other. His grip had loosened, his hand sliding from her wrist to hold hers, and it startled him a little when he felt her long, lithe fingers slip between his. It was almost surreal. "Everything," he mumbled finally and then with a little ironic humor added, "I don't know why you bother."

Sakura was unfazed, shrugging one shoulder as she smiled. "I like you," she replied simply.

Kakashi decided to ignore the fact that there was something else to her words, the fact that she hadn't let go of his hand, and the fact that he was yet to let go of hers. The fact that he really didn't want to let go. He glanced up at the face of her apartment building. "So, what are the odds that your neighbor is _entertaining_ a friend tonight?"

She blanched a little and made a face. "Oh, why did you have to say that?" she whined, looking up at the building as well. "I don't even want to go up there now."

He tried hard not to grin even though he desperately wanted to. "So… coffee?"

Sakura shot him a narrow look. "You did that on purpose."

"Maybe."

She eyed him for a moment longer and then rolled her eyes and nodded (he didn't miss the way her hand squeezed his). "All right. I imagine that should give them enough time to, um, finish and say good night." She shook her head and covered her face with her free hand. "We need to talk about something else. _Now_."

Kakashi smiled when he felt her grip tighten on his hand and he squeezed back as he began to lead her back the way they had come. "Tell me more about your family."

* * *

1. Oh my God, an update! I know I already said that but I feel that it should be repeated because it's been over a freakin' year! No one is more ashamed of that than me, I assure you. Although that sounds weird to say because why would any of you be ashamed of that? You should be pissed!

2. Explanation: No, this is not the last chapter. Yes, I had planned on finishing this up in three, but sitting at my computer tonight, rereading this I realized that I couldn't manage it in three in a way that wouldn't see rushed and contrived and contrary to what my opinion usually is of my own writing, I do really love this story and I want to give it the ending it deserves.

3. So when will part 4 be up? Good question. The fact is that I'm not sure. I have a lot of projects going right now, so it's really anyone's guess. I will try to have it updated before a year passes, though if that's an consolation.

4. As for the chapter content-wise: I want to say that I like it but my own hesitance suggests that my feelings are more mixed than I think. I like the direction it's going in, I suppose. I wanted to keep at least a small portion of Kakashi's back story from the series proper in tact and even though it's going to be heavily adjusted to fit the context of this fic, I hope it comes out the way I wanted to.

5. To address a few nitpicky things: No, Sakura's neighbor is not Genma. I don't submit to the slimy perverted lush interpretation of Genma's character. Instead, for your amusement, imagine that it's Hidan. You know, the fandom version of Hidan where he's charming and funny and not just an out-and-out sociopath. Also, yes Sakura's other surrogate uncle is exactly who you think it is and I laughed myself stupid at the idea.

**Although I know I don't deserve it given the unforgivable time between updates, I beg of you all to review and let me know what you think. Cheers, loves.**


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